Echoes of Resistance:Desolation
“Let's talk about government, shall we? Or, more specifically, YOUR government, dear Equestria - the Enclave. Just who is the Enclave? Why, now, that's simple. The Enclave is you, Equestria.”
A bitter, cloudy day. The Wasteland norm, as it were. In all but a few places the Enclave’s cloud cover snuffed out the snuff, casting Equestria into a dull brown hue wherever you may look. In all but a few places, at least. A scant few ‘gifted’ with that bright orb by the feathered ponies clad in their metal machines of war and power armor.
And this was most certainly not one of those places.
The buildings were only a few years old, but they were already crumbling into ruins. The Enclave’s promise of a bright future, new homes and lives… When all they were building was a slave pen, left to fall into rot and despair. Only pegasi, those they could use, or those rich enough to buy their way in were given a true home and treated like ponies. Everything else?
Well, I guess we’re just expendable labor.
Goddesses help you if you’re not a pony at all.
It’s been this way for as long as the current generation can probably remember. But me? Well, I was barely older than a filly when it happened. When the day came that the wasteland actually somehow became worse for everypony, when all we had built was knocked down by invaders from the sky.
Operation: Cauterize. Nopony could stand against it. No armies, like those of the Fillydelphia slavers. No heroes, like The Stable Dweller.
Those they didn’t butcher were dragged from their homes, detained. And then released into our new ‘home’. Even I’ve begun to forget a time when I walked the wasteland. Sure, it was dangerous. But it was free, and growing.
Now most ponies live in fear, an eternal gun to their skulls. Forced to work, forced to die. Beaten, tormented.
Made an example of.
For how else can a monster control people if not through fear?
I could see one of the Enclave’s usual death squads right now, where me and my compatriots watched from our rooftop vantage. They had yet to spot us, I guess they’re too used to the ease of storming in and murdering a few innocent people to cause the rest to cower. Still, they were well armed. I could see at least three pegasi in power armor, their glowing eyes searching the building ahead of them as their scorpion-like tails twitched in anticipation. Three other pegasi in their new advanced combat armor covered their flanks, and we’d seen five more soldiers head on inside, three earth ponies and two unicorns.
Sellouts. Traitors.
I could already hear the muffled screams coming from the large building complex across from us. An abandoned warehouse where countless ponies were forced to squat together either due to the lack of living space or because their previous homes had become unlivable. Places like these were more often than not the targets of the Enclave’s random raids. Though that didn’t mean they didn’t knock down random house doors from time to time.
I glanced towards the others. The earth pony stallion to my left was in battered Tenpony Tower security barding, and the pegasus mare just beyond him was in a stable jumpsuit. The former had a dinged up magical energy rifle on his battle saddle, while the latter had a hunting rifle.
There were a dozen more of us, all armed with whatever we could get. Some were lucky enough to have decent weapons and barding, others just had to make do with outdated or near-broken equipment. Each of us had trickled onto the roof one at a time, not risking moving in a large group. It looked like most of us were here, which was a better sign than usual…
The screaming became clearer, and the first bedraggled ponies were dragged from the warehouse kicking, screaming and begging.
I took a breath, keeping my magic steady and off the trigger of my energy pistol for the time being. I had to wait… Wait, or those poor ponies were already dead.
Patience, Maple. Patience.
The first ponies were all of the earth variety, dragged and dumped onto their asses by the two unicorns. The rest dozen or so were shepherds out by the three earth ponies and pegasi, treated little better than non-sapient brahmin as they were subsequently lined up and kicked down into the dirt.
I could hear their whimpering. See their shaking and the ground wetting upon contact with their tears. In sequence, the cloud cover too began to weep as the heavy rainfall began.
The cries of a foal echoed across the now silent district.
The three power armor units moved into position, lined up while facing the squatters. The six other Enclave pegasi moved to circle the group, warding off any ponies who happened to walk down that street. They made a show of it, though, and each pony walked away with a noticeable shake in their steps.
Then the pegasi dared to laugh about it.
A earth pony and one of the unicorns began to inspect the shivering prisoners, their expressions hidden behind their helmets. They stopped at the mare holding her crying foal, clinging to the child desperately.
She gave a scream as the unicorn smacked the butt of his rifle into the back of the mare’s head, sending her to the ground as the child was snatched away in a magical aura. The mare tried to get up, though the aura shifted to her and kept her pinned in place, the child dropping to the muddy ground and landing with a small thud.
The wailing increased, and as the mother begged the earth pony pointed the barrel of his gun directly at the child.
Time seemed to slow, and I… I couldn’t turn my stare from the sight. The mother reaching out her hoof for her foal, hearing the child’s final screams before the inevitable crackle of the energy weapon...
I… I couldn’t breathe… I had been here before…
And in a flash, I was there again.
Back when all our hopes had been burned into dust.
The Enclave had been in power for a few years, and had gotten much of Equestria under their hoof as their technology began to evolve to new, previously unseen heights. No idea how they were progressing so fast, but they were.
And then the resistance, having come together for a mass assault, was led into a trap and crushed. What was left went back into hiding, and the people of the wasteland were left without any immediate hope of salvation.
I was living in the slum around one of the Enclave’s own new pristine cities when the news hit, the the general depression snatched out hearts. I was a young mare, alone, untrained in the art of war. Living in a decrepit old home with equally desperate ponies I barely knew…
Holding onto my foal, the only comfort I had in this conquered world.
She was a precious little thing, my little Spruce Lily. Eyes always so wide and curious, and that little giggle whenever I tapped my hoof on her nose, or nuzzled her cheek…
I could see night falling outside, though no stars could be spotted through the cloud layer. Lily’s eyes began to began to flutter, and then close. I kept her close in my hooves, huddled in a corner as I watched the other ponies in the room all settle down for some rest. The only light illuminating any of it was a small flickering candle in the corner, casting a soft glow over the dirtied and battered bodies.
Lily began to quietly snore, shifting to get comfortable. The other ponies, too, had began to nod off. They’d all been hard at work, doing whatever jobs the Enclave commanded of us. And between working dawn to dusk and looking after a foal, well, I felt near ready to drop.
As for her father… No, I will never even think about that. Not that.
A small whimper echoed around the room… And it took me a few moments to realise it had been my own. I… just needed to rest. I needed to be strong… for her. I began to let sleep take me, so I would join my child in the realm of dreams. Maybe there we could find some happiness, in the fantasy of a better world...
And that was when it had happened, heralded by the smash of the window and the small cylderdical object clattering inside.
The bang awoke everypony immediately, including my Lily, and the screaming began as the smoke began to fill the room.
I had to protect her! Who knew what was in the smoke!? Somepony had shouted for us to run, but we didn’t need telling. A dozen ponies all began to cram through the single door, and I held my foal as close as I could.
Lily was crying, and I just couldn’t stop her… But I had to get out. That came first, I had to protect her. Nothing else matter, only her…
Oh Celestia, please…
Somehow, I broke through the mass of bodies and the rolling, suffocating smoke. I didn’t stop, I had to get my child away! I rushed through the collapsing home, and I didn’t stop until I was out of the door!
But the moment I had, my muzzle hit something cold and hard. I fell to my rump, never losing my grip of Lily, who continued to scream. My desire to comfort her, to tell her everything was going to be okay, we overridden by the hulking suit of power armor directly before me. It's glowing yellow eyes stared directly into my own, and I was frozen before it, more vulnerable than I had ever felt in my life…
I barely saw the large metal tail swing round and clip the side of my head.
My world span around, and I think I hit the dirt. I… couldn’t think, couldn’t even breathe. A warm fluid seeped from a new gash in my head, and I could barely hear the screams around me. I don’t know how long it took for the world to regain focus, but when it did I brought a hoof to my head…
Lily! I wasn’t holding Lily!
Like a bucket of ice cold water, the real world washed over me as I came to my senses. I didn’t care that I was hurt, where was she!? Where was my baby!?
She was just a short way from me, where the others had all been lined up by the pegasi in power armor. She was crying, I had to reach her… I had to hold her, to comfort her, to save her…
The moment I tried to walk, I was hit again. Not as bad as the first time, but enough to send me back to the ground.
I could see her… So perfect, so innocent…
She disappeared in a bolt of green disintegration magic, and I watched before my eyes as my foal turned into goo.
My soul withered and died, and everything blurred from focus.
And I was back on the rooftop, beam pistol held in my magic.
I barely remembered what happened after I lost my daughter. But when I had become lucid again, day had broken, and I was alone. They had killed the others, my child… but spared me. For what? To leave behind a broken mare, a warning to others? To spread fear through me?
Murderers. Bastards. I was no pawn of theirs!
And here history was about to repeat itself. The distraught mother, the defenceless foal…
The Enclave had been in power for almost four decades. But no more, I would not watch another mother suffer as I. I would not let the Enclave continue to do as they pleased!
The soldier didn’t know what hit him as the red beam from my pistol hit. I hit some chink in his armor, and he glowed ever so briefly before the wind carried his ashes away.
The match was lit.
All the Enclave turned towards us, and I smiled as the mother used the opportunity to grab the child unnoticed and run. Whatever the outcome of the coming fight would be, I had already won. The child lived, there would not be another Lily on this day. And all of us, in a united cause of freedom from the oppression of the skies, led by the example of heroes long passed, raised our weapons in unison and opened up with everything we had.
The Enclave would know that the resistance was alive, and we were coming for them.
Fallout: Equestria - Resistance
